This keynote address will explore how museums play a role in addressing long term challenges like climate change, and abrupt disruptions like Brexit. Tony Butler will share the work of the Happy Museum Project, which provides a leadership framework for museums to develop a holistic approach to wellbeing and sustainability. The project re-imagines the museum’s purpose as a steward of people, place, and planet, supporting institutional and community resilience in the face of global financial and environmental challenges.

Tony Butler will also share his experience putting these principles into action, as demonstrated in the transformation of Derby Museums into places for the head, heart, and hands, viewing visitors as citizens who participate in the creation of their institutions. This is exemplified in the current £16.5million development Derby Silk Mill, a World Heritage Site, as a Museum of Making – as a blueprint for the democratic Civic Museum of the 21st Century.

“Museums can be very painful sites for Native peoples, as they are intimately tied to the colonization process” (Amy Lonetree, Decolonizing Museums, 2012). Undoing the legacy of colonialism in museums is necessary when addressing Indigenous needs and priorities. A decolonized approach with Indigenous collections can be applied to most museums—given their origins as colonial institutions. Participants will learn how to undo the colonial mindset that exists within our institutional DNA with colleagues from museums in, Arizona, California, and Maine.

This session will challenge participants to consider their role in reconciliation within the context of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the history of the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement. Charlene Bearhead will share examples of inspiring initiatives, resources, partnerships, and projects taking place across Canada. Before leaving, delegates will be encouraged to commit to their own reconciliACTION.

This session will examine museum excellence, best practices, and adaptability through accreditation programs operated by the Alberta Museums Association and the American Alliance of Museums. Participants will hear perspectives about the importance of accreditation in museums and the heritage field from the programs’ administrators and participants, compare the Canadian and American approaches, and exchange ideas about accreditation, best practice, and standards across borders.

This session will explore the practical challenges confronted when deaccessioning, featuring an overview of policies and procedures and including examples from speakers who are new to the topic and those who have experienced great success. Participants will have plenty of time to ask questions and share their own challenges and triumphs, highlighting the issues and concerns that arise in the development of deaccessioning policies and procedures.

In this keynote follow up session, Tony Butler will expand on the morning’s keynote address. He will explore the idea of the civic role of the museum in the 21st Century in the context of a co-produced institution where museums are generators of social capital.

This session will challenge delegates to explore ways to make the most out of their innovative partnerships, impact in their communities, and exhibits through exciting, fun, and easy-to-copy ideas. This fast and informative session will reveal how various museums have implemented marketing, social media, promotional, outreach, and public relations initiatives to further museum objectives and engage new audiences. #nutsandbolts

Museums around the globe are working to create inclusive and socially-just spaces, an essential endeavor in our increasingly polarized society. This session will explore programs designed to make museums more inclusive and accessible, including the Institute for Canadian Citizenship’s Cultural Access Pass Program and Museums for All, a cooperative initiative between the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the Association of Children’s Museums.

This panel will encourage reflection on the origin, ownership, authenticity, and appropriate sharing of stories. Facilitated discussion will explore the relationship of documented history to local / regional stories, and how audience engagement with mythologies can activate exhibition spaces through evolving narratives. Participants will be encouraged to imagine ways to share cultural knowledge and practices in respectful and inclusive ways—inspiring new cross-cultural perspectives and behaviors.

Barcoding is an established technology for tracking the movement of objects, but it is not yet widely used in museums. Presenters will share their recent experience with barcoding their collections, focussing on techniques that are easily adoptable and broadly applicable. This session will discuss the balance between consistency and flexibility in establishing new processes, and present strategies to ensure long-term success when adopting new workflows.

What does ‘unity’ mean to your organization? How does museum leadership work to create a respectful environment where people with differing world views can not only work together, but thrive because of it? Can design serve as a change agent to create safe and respectful places for this dialogue to occur? This session will explore how museums can play a role in bringing people together to find common ground and begin to reunite our communities. #UNITE

This session will explore how a committee of representatives from the local Indigenous community, the City of Edmonton, and the Edmonton Arts Council collaborated to create an Indigenous Art Park. The panel will share how their cooperative process built trust, opened opportunities, and explored new ways of thinking about place as they commissioned six Indigenous artists to tell “stories of this place” through site specific art.

Have you noticed how certain organizations seem to be consistently successful at unconventional partnerships or powerful programs for atypical audiences? How do organizations sustain innovation on a regular basis? This session will explore how organizational culture can make or break creativity and nurture agents of the unconventional by exploring the systems that support it. #diggingdeeper

As institutions operating in the public interest, museums should strive to instill a sense of belonging and purpose among all citizens, not merely facilitate access to data and objects. Crowdsourcing this digitization effort has become an effective means to bring awareness to and foster interest in collections, as well as involve the general public in museum projects. This session will highlight efforts to engage citizen scientists in museum digitization projects through crowdsourcing.

This session will explore issues such as setting the value for an outgoing loan, determining the monetary loss in cases of damage or theft, gift giving, and confirming the price of a new acquisition. Participants will learn what an appraisal is, how to read an appraisal, how to choose a certified appraiser, and how to review museum policies and both American and Canadian tax forms.

Visit the Alberta Legislative Assembly Visitor Centre’s interactive and engaging exhibits, located on the main floor of the Edmonton Federal Building. Discover how Alberta’s vibrant parliamentary history contributed to the fabric of Alberta’s culture in the Agora Interpretive Centre, learn about the history of Alberta’s settlement through the eyes of Princess Louise Caroline Alberta in the immersive 4-D Pehonan Theatre, and stop at the Alberta Branded Retail Store for souvenirs created by Alberta artists. This institution will be featured in Saturday afternoon’s Exhibit Critique session.

Enjoy live entertainment, light refreshments, and a cash bar as you take in panoramic views of the Alberta Legislature Building and grounds and downtown Edmonton.